Girl Reading

I have been reading a lot of girl books lately:
The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
Ivy + Bean by Annie Barrows (would be good for my niece Samantha)
Cinderella (as if you didn't already know the story) by Barbara Ensor
Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams

I really enjoyed them all. The Ivy + Bean series would be very good for Samantha, good reading level, cute story, all about girls.

I LOVE the Echo Falls books that Peter Abrahams writes. Ingrid is a very modern Nancy Drew, but still a realistic thirteen year old. I think this one was my favorite one and since the book took place in the winter I might revisit it this summer when I am hot an miserable. I am not sure I will buy them all for my library, but I will get the first one, Down the Rabbit Hole, and if that one gets a lot of action I will add the other ones.

I loaned one of my reading friends, Noah, two of my new books: Battle of the Labryinth and Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire. He ripped through the Percy book and loved it so when I am done with what I am currently reading I will start that, hopefully this weekend.

So Cool

I don't often write about pictures books, yet, but I found such a cool site. I realize I might be coming a little late to the party, but I just found lookybook. Where have I been. At any rate, I found it now. I did a few of them for my kindergartners (they watched on the smartboard while I read from my computer--if I stood in the front there was a shadow and they couldn't see well). I am just in love. Here's a totally adorable book from there called Alphabeasts (if you click on the eyes in the corner you can be redirected to a big version on the website--you do not have to register but if you do you can set up a bookshelf of favorites and registration is free).


Secondly is Tumble Books. I have been doing this one with my kinders since we got our smartboard. Wonderful!! If you click on the tumblebooks icon on this page you can access all the books without paying because that library has a license for it. At tumble books, books are read to the kids.

Lastly, my favorite spring book. If you are open to being a little sadistic you will enjoy this book. It's hysterical and I always read it to my kinders. They LOVE it and needless to say it is one of Max's FAVORITES!!

Good list of upcoming books: KidsReads.

The Penderwicks

These are the sweetest, most heartwarming books around. I just love these little girls. I read the first Penderwicks a few years ago and it just gave me the best feeling. In a world where books are filled with tragedy and heartache and too much irony it's nice to read a book that just isn't. Some might say "that's not real world," but for lots of kids it is. Not everyone has huge problems to overcome. Some live with loving parents and siblings. That's what is so sweet about these books, they just feel good. I am so excited for the next one, but if the author chose to end it here that would be fine also, because it was a perfect story and a perfect ending. The second was better than the first, but since the first was so wonderful I would recommend either of them, highly!

Tuesday Round Up

I finished The Tiger's Egg. What a fun world those books take place in. It was a great read, but I did like the first a smidge better. Now I am reading The Penderwicks on Gardam Street. LOVE it. I love Jeanne Birdsall and her writing. It is just good. If you've never read the first book The Penderwicks I highly recommend it for anyone. It always makes me wish I had daughters. But the fun thing about this second book is that across the street from the Penderwicks is a house with two boys. That makes me smile.

Book Club

We had our second book club meeting on Wednesday night. Carter wanted to go to Subway for a pizza sub. We discussed The Nixie's Song, which he has liked better than the original Spiderwick books. I think that is because he read The Nixie's Song after we had seen The Spiderwick movie and then started the original Spiderwick Chronicles after he had read The Nixie's Song. We are both looking forward to the second book to come out in September and agree that Nicholas' brother Jules will probably have a bigger part in the next book.

Our next book club book is The Lightning Thief which I have been so excited for Carter to read. He is four chapters in and asking me questions that I am not sure about because it has been two years since I read it. Guess I need to start catching up. I might load the audiobook onto my ipod for our soccer trip this weekend! I did preorder The Battle of the Labryinth from Borders. Too bad they didn't have that option for The Penderwicks on Gardam Street which I still haven't gotten. I will just have to finish The Tiger's Egg. I love Miles Wednesday and Little.

Cool section on Amazon: Summer Reading Preview.

Baby Book

My friends just had their first baby. The book I always get for new babies is Walk on by Marla Frazee. It is so adorable. Cute drawings and fun to read.

I am going to Borders at lunch today to get another copy of Walk On for the new baby and The Penderwicks if it is finally in and The Tiger's Egg. I do not want to start another book unless it is one of those.

Carter and I are going to have our next book club dinner tomorrow night. It is LONG overdue. We both finished The Nixie's Song before spring break (a month ago). He just started The Lightning Thief after Artemis Fowl proved a bit too hard for him. He was listening to it on his ipod and really liking it, but the reading stumped him. I hope The Lightning Thief works for him because I love those books and want him to get into them.

Not Really A Book

I know this is not really a book, but as a kindergarten teacher I highly recommend WORD WORLD to everyone with young children. It is fun, adorable and filled with words. My kindergarteners LOVE it.

Julie Andrews Collection

Julie Andrews (yes, Mary Poppins) wrote one of my favorite books, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. My fourth grade teacher read it to my class and I have loved it ever since (thank you Mrs. Gunnerson). So now there is a series of books that is called The Julie Andrews Collection. These are not all books she has written, nor are they all from the same author, but books that fall under a criteria for the Julie Andrews label. I read one these last couple days called The Palace of Laughter. It is the first book in a new series called the Wednesday Tales. I LOVED it. The second is called Tiger's Egg and I will be reading that as well, soon I hope!

Diary

I got my niece Alex into Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She loved them

Been Reading

Read the new book by Lois Lowry. She is such a great author she lets no genre define her. This was a fun book, but not the best. My favorite of hers is All About Sam. I read it every year to my kindergarten class and they always love it. I also loved The Giver which is the start of a trilogy she did about future societies. I love stories about futuristic societies.




I also read the last book in the book in the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It was called Among the Free. This was a great series that I started quite a few years ago. Again this was about a futuristic society, but in this one having three children in a family is outlawed. The first book is called Among the Hidden and it introduced us to a boy named Luke who was a third child. This was a good series and now that all seven books have been published would be fun to read in order, one after the other.

Now I am reading The Great Good Thing. It is okay. When I am not reading it, I don't care about reading it, but when I pick it up I like it and want to see what is going to happen. I have quite a few lined up so I am thinking about reading tonight until I finish or give up and then I can move on!

I loved this book...The thing I wish most is that I was the type of mom/teacher that the manny is to his young charges. I just adored this story.

Not So Much

I started out spring break as very ambitious. Didn't get as far as I'd expected. I blame it all on my ipod. I started listening to New Moon because I wanted to revisit all the Twilight books before the fourth one comes out (these are good young adult books about vampires, and romance, sigh). Once I started listening I couldn't stop and ended up driving about 20 miles for dinner one night so that I could listen all the way there and back. This puts a dent in my reading though. I did finish The Luxe, which was good. Last night I finished The Nixie's Song so Carter and I can do out next reading club dinner. I am going to push for Artemis Fowl for the next book with our club. That or The Lightning Thief. I also want to do Stormbreaker before too long. These are three starts of series that I think Carter would love.

Peter Abrahams is an adult suspense author who is awesome. Over the last few years he has published a young adult series called The Echo Falls books. They are about a young girl named Ingrid who solves mysteries. They are very good reads and the third on in the series came out today!! I am going to go to Borders tonight and pick it up. Maybe. I do have quite the pile at home right now and I have that on hold at the library so maybe I will wait. Who knows. It's not like it;s the new Penderwick's book...

Very Ambitious

Spring break started. I plan to read about four books. I just finished Into the Woods. I wasn't too fond of it during the first 70 pages, but after that it really moved along. I think that fractured fairy tales are so much fun to read. I will be compiling a list of my favorites. I am not sure yet whether or not this one will be on it, but I did enjoy it a lot. Went to bed early and got up early to finish it. Now I am going to totally change genres and read The Luxe. We'll see how that goes.

Love It

When I book just clicks. I read The Tail of Emily Windsnap last night. That's right it just went so quickly that I finished it all last night. Of course I stayed up way too late, but that's the way it goes when you are in a good quick book. I also finished The Case of the Left-Handed Lady which is the second in a series about Sherlock Holmes much younger sister, Enola. These are fun books as well. I think that during spring break I am going to do some adult book reading. I know, shocking.

On the plus side, I have recommended the Percy Jackson books for a few people and they have LOVED them. The one boy who I knew would love them didn't think he was going to after he finished the first one. He liked it, but didn't love it. Then he started the second one and whipped through the second and third and loved them and wants to buy them all (he has my copies right now). Also, one of Carter's friends just had surgery so we got him the first two to read while he is recovering. When I get my copies back and he is done with all the Spiderwick books I am going to have Carter start the first one. I think he is ready!

The Birthday Room

I read The Birthday Room by Kevin Henkes this week. I really liked it, but couldn't say I loved it. Kevin Henkes is best known for his picture books, which are awesome. This was the first novel of his that I have read but I think that I will try Olive's Ocean sometime, probably this summer.

Carter and I had a discussion last night about why the school makes him read certain books that he is not at all interested in and they grade on that. The bone of contention was Sign of the Beaver, which he is reading as a novel study in fourth grade. He had forgotten the book at school and the school was locked so we ran to the public library to check it out so he could get his chapters read and his homework done. I read to him some of the chapters and my mom read the rest. This was good because he probably wouldn't have gotten it all read if I hadn't. So anyway, I think that if he is doing his at home reading assignments and reading books he likes and just READING, I am okay with reading to him his assignments, or even getting them on CD from the library and putting them on his ipod. It's a problem that happens a lot!

Book Club

We started Three good Deeds and it just didn't capture Carter's attention, so after our first book club dinner (which was so cool), we went out to buy our next book. We ended up with The Nixie's Song, the latest book from The Spiderwick Chronicles authors. He LOVES it. It makes me excited to read it.

I have been stuck on this book for awhile, so today I picked up Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson and read the whole thing. It was very good and written from a teenage guy's point of view. I will go back to my other one tonight and try to finish it. I have a lot to go and a lot that are due so I need to get reading!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid--Online!

Since I have been gushing about this book (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) for a few weeks now I was SUPER excited to find this excerpt on line. Go read it...NOW! Then go buy the book for yourself and any kid's you might have.

If you read far enough to get to Day 2, and see the trick Rodrick plays on Greg just imagine almost that same exact trick being played a a young and innocent Jana when her sister did that to her, several times (only it was "get up you are late for school). I wonder what an older sibling does after they play such a trick. Go to bed giggling? Do they feel any remorse? They can be so mean those older siblings.

Also, if you read both you'll discover that some pages that were online are in the first book and some are in the second. From what I understand the books were first published online at funbrain.com (Max loves this site by the way, a lot of good, educational games) much like a blog. They became books from there and the first three books will be based on what was published online. Enjoy!

**A few commenters want to know where you can read the whole books online--as far as I know, you can't. The link to FunBrain is great and you can read a lot of some of the books, but if you want to read the whole things you'll probably have to buy them or check them out.
Thanks!!

Warnell Book Club

Carter has finished three books for our book club:
The Janitor's Boy, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. I am going to finish them this weekend and we are going to have our first book club dinner on Sunday night, just Carter and me. He is starting a new one tomorrow:




Three Good Deeds that we got at the book fair at school today. I will read it as he does so we can have that as our next book. This was on my list after I had gone to the book fair so it's nice that he also picked it out!

Wow.

Not only is Carter in love with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, he also took The Janitor's Boy to school and finished it. But, he left it there so I can't finish it yet, so we can't have our book club dinner yet. But, tonight as he sat in the kitchen reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (I know you will get tired of reading about this book, but my son who is a reluctant reader at best, LOVES it. So, I would love it even if it was trash, but it isn't, it's awesome) he said that he loves reading this book because we have something to talk about. So, even though The Janitor's Boy was our first official book club book, Diary was certainly our first book club discussion. I am so amazed (grateful, ecstatic, happy, relieved) that we connected like this over a book. I am going to write the author. Now.

Hysterical

I started reading A Diary of a Wimpy Kid and have had a hard time putting it down. It is so funny. There is a passage in there about something his older brother does to him that my sister used to do to me all the time. I laughed so hard. In fact, tonight when we got home from dinner, Carter just wanted to read, no TV. He hasn't done that with a book in like...FOREVER!!! Any book that gets him excited I am all for. I am going tomorrow to buy the sequel (or next one in a series) so that he can start on it right away. Wahoo!

I checked this out for Carter to read, but since we were doing The Janitor's Boy for our book club and He was reading Sign of the Beaver for school I wasn't about to throw another book on him. Well, last night he found it in my huge stack of books and started reading it right away. He is totally excited about it. It is written like a diary (but a boy's diary) so it looks like handwriting and there are stick figure drawings all over it. It is about middle school and tonight after he goes to bed I will probably pick it up and start it as well because it does look so cute. Also, he is reading it aloud to Max, but I am not sure how long that will last!

I Love To Read

February is I Love To Read month. Make sure that you find ways to read something everyday!

I am making January 20-February 20 (or there abouts) children's book month. I have a stack at home that I've been checking out so I am going to focus on just reading them.

Done With...
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan
*really enjoyed this. very The Little Princess type*
If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko
*another quick, fun read*
The Runaway Princess by Kate Coombs
*good fairy tale for the new millenium*
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
*very good book about what being homeless*
The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
*still not sure what it was about but I enjoyed reading it!*
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
*hysterical. such a normal kid, sort of annoying, makes bad decisions, but what he writes is so funny. you WILL laugh out loud, several times*
Gilda Joyce: Phsycic Investigator by Jennifer Allison
*this is first in a series of three about a young girl named Gilda Joyce. the book was fun with a good mystery and a bit of supernatural. the fun of the book is Gilda Joyce who is really fun, eccentric character.*
The Janitor's Boy by Andrew Clements
*so good. great story about a boy coming to know his father.*
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
*just as good as the first!*
Twisted by Laurie Halse Kinney
*great book. well written from a guy's point of view*


Carter and I have started our oh-so-exclusive Warnell Book Club. The first book we chose is:




The Janitor's Boy
His third grade teacher read it to him and he loved it so he is excited to read it again. Whatever gets him excited to read!

Read Aloud List for 2008

1. Prince Caspian (must be read before the movie on May 16th)(started on Jan. 3)
2. Artemis Fowl
*I am going to read the first one out loud and that might spur Carter into reading the others himself
3. Bunnicula (maybe)(I might read it first to see if it will capture them)
4. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles

Reading List July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008

1. The First Assistant by Clare Naylor & Mimi Hare
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. Trollbridge by Jane Yolen and Andrew Stemple (YA)
5. Me and Mr. Darcy by Alexandra Potter
6. What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
7. The Manny by Holly Peterson
8. Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich
9. Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
10. The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline
11. The Devil in the Junior League by Linda Francis Lee
12. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (T)
13. Everything I needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned From Judy Blume by Jennifer O'Connell
14. Edward's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan (C)
15. Punished by David Lubar (C)
16. Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt
17. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
18. How to Sleep With a Movie Star by Kristen Harmel
19. Witch's Wishes by Vivian Vande Velde (C)
20. Here There Be Dragons by James A. Owen (YA)
21. World Without End by Ken Follett
22. The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
23. A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity by Karen Gilles Seidel
24. Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz
25. How Opal Metha Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life by Kaayva Viswanathan
26. Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Tonie McGee Causey
27. Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
28. Austenland by Shannon Hale
29. Dedication by Emma McLaughin and Nicola Kraus

Good v. Great

Here's the difference between a good book and a great book. A good book you read to finish and because it's not bad. It's good to read before bed and for lack of something better.

Here Be Monsters was a good book. Cute drawings, interesting concept and ideas. Not bad.

A great book is one that goes everywhere with you because you never know when you have a few minutes extra to read (bathroom, drive thru line, soccer practice, etc...). You almost can't read it before bed because you might not be able to put it down and then you won't get enough sleep.

Nerve Damage was a great book. Peter Abrahams is just a good writer. It took me a week to read Here Be Monsters and like two days to finish Nerve Damage.

Reading List 06-07

1. Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
2. Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
3. Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin
4. Something Blue by Emily Griffin
5. The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup
6. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
7. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
8. Company by Max Barry
9. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
10. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
11. Guilty Pleasures by Laurel K. Hamilton
12. Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
13. A Good Year by Peter Mayle
14. The Ruins by Scott Smith
15. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
16. Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
17. Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
18. Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
19. End of Story by Peter Abrahams
20. Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
21. Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams
22. Oblivion by Peter Abrahams
23. Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot
24. The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera
25. Everest: Mountain Without Mercy
26. Their Wildest Dreams By Peter Abrahams
27. Lights Out by Peter Abrahams
28. The Everest Trilogy by Gordon Korman
29. Mortified by David Nadelberg
30. Blood Sucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
31. The Fire Within by Chris d'lacey
32. Icefire by Chris d’Lacey
33. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
34. The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty
35. The Invention of Hugo Carbet by Brian Selznik
36. Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
37. Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
38. Saving Faith by David Baldacci
39. Gossip Girl #1
40. Gossip Girl #2
41. Here Be Monsters by Alan Snow
42. Nerve Damage by Peter Abrahams
43. Sacred by Dennis Lehane
44. Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld
45. Nightrise by Anthony Horowitz
46. Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
47. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
48. Skuldugger Pleasant by Derek Landy (CY)
49. The Golden Compass,
50. The Subtle Knife and
51. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (T)
52. No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs

*CY means Children/Young Adult*T is for Teen*

Young Adult and Children Books That ROCK!!!

ANTHONY HOROWITZ--If you have a boy, read the Alex Rider books. They made a movie of the first one that bombed and I am so disappointed. I had high hopes. Anyway, don't let the reflect the books because they are fantastic. The first one is Stormbreaker.

GARY PAULSEN--Hatchet is essential. For boys mostly, but girls do enjoy it. Gary Paulsen had written a bunch and they are all great, but Hatchet and it's sequels remain the tops.

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall--by far my favorite book of last year. So sweet and so good. It's just a good book.

Peter and the Star Catchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson--okay, this is a prequel to Peter Pan and it is so good. Just one of my favorite all time books.

The Secret Language of Girls by Frances O’Raork Dowell--This is is such a good books about girls growing up and hitting that stage where the old things are not cool and you have to change to keep up or not and get left behind.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson--I have to include this because it is such a good book and they made a movie out of it that does not look like it is following the book and I will be so upset if it doesn't end like the book because the ending is what makes this book so meaningful!

*A Wrinkle in Time--So wonderful! I never got this read until I was in my twenties and was so sorry I waited so long.

**Since I want to get this posted I am going to stop here. I don't like the idea of you getting your reading ideas from others, that's my thing. I will periodically post for you!**